


What are Friends For?

by Avistar123



Category: RWBY
Genre: Comforting, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Handholding, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Ruby angst, Ten years after V1, ruby centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26546182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avistar123/pseuds/Avistar123
Summary: No matter how much time passed the fact that Jaune and Weiss were still Ruby’s best friends forever, never changed. Of course, there are times when Ruby needs to reminded of this fact but thankfully, both Jaune and Weiss are always ready to help.
Relationships: Jaune Arc/Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc/Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, Jaune Arc/Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**I don’t own anything from RWBY, that honor belongs to the fine people at Rooster Teeth**

**What are Friends For?**

* * *

Weiss had been planning on enjoying a nice and relaxing day out in Vale. Seeing as how it was the 10th anniversary of the formation of Team RWBY and JNPR in Beacon Academy, it only made sense for her to be in attendance. To think it had been ten years since she had made the decision to head off to Beacon, to reject her father’s desire to force her into the SDC.

Back then she had no idea about the role she would play in the War against Salem. Neither did any of them really. But when it mattered most, they never faltered, and they rose up to challenge. And now here they were, living in a world that was once believed to have been lost as a fairytale.

Of course, she was still missing one thing. Her life in Atlas had become a lot easier once she reconciled with her family and managed to remake the bonds with her once estranged brother. Now running the SDC didn’t feel as exhausting as it did before. 

But life was still missing someone. More specifically, someone who Weiss could share her feelings with and be happy, someone who she could trust to never give her up, to always be there by her side. In her time as a huntress, she had only ever had eyes for two such people. Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose.

Despite her earlier reception to Jaune being frigid at best during her time in Beacon, she couldn’t deny how far the man had come from faking transcripts to get into Beacon. From learning compassion and self-worth from Pyrrha to grieving his loss and recovering from it, to becoming the leader they all knew he could be when it mattered most, he truly showcased his worth as a worthy huntsman.

As for Ruby Rose, what could be said apart from what had already been said? A legend among Hunters, she made her name by being the youngest ever huntress to be accepted into Beacon. From there she quickly showcased that her entry was no fluke, constantly outperforming everyone in the school with her own skill, making short work her two lost years of training and eventually becoming one of the greatest team leaders. 

She showed heroism and kindness where it mattered most. She proved to Weiss and everyone else that she was truly one of a kind and her heroism at the battle against Salem, ensured that everyone would be able to gain their happy ending.

Truly, Weiss was lucky to have served among two of the best, and even more luckier to have been such great friends to them. It was thanks to them, that they all could enjoy the lives they lived. It was thanks to them that life could finally be the fairytale everyone wished it could be. And for that, they deserved all the praise in the world.

And plenty of praise was being given out in the part, as was evident by the sheer number of old friends and family that came to see them during this momentous day of their life. But there was only one problem. 

Ruby hadn’t come.

* * *

Out of all the people here, Jaune knew that Ruby wasn’t exactly the freest person in the world. After all she chose to keep on fighting, the good fight as a huntress. And given the messages that were being shared by her to both of their teams, it seemed that she had been doing well.

In fact, he was almost certain that she was going to come over to see them as even she was saying that her schedule was clearing up. He was looking forward to meeting with her and Weiss again, despite their last visit being over a month ago. Despite all of them growing up and becoming busy with life, they still made close contact with each other.

This was supposed to be one of their best days, the day when they all came together to remember all the great times they had, all the fond memories they shared out in Beacon. So why hadn’t she come?

Did a hunt come from out of nowhere which she had to accept? Did she simply get busy from out of nowhere? But Ruby wasn’t one to break her promises and he knew that unless Ruby had a good reason, she wasn’t ever going to miss this day.

At least Weiss was still here, but without Ruby, some of the significance of the event was quickly lost. The memories both him and Weiss had made with Ruby, the wonderful times they had spent together, relaxing and having fun, were truly things that he had missed. So needless to say, not finding Ruby today was a dampener. 

Heading over to Weiss, he found her facing a similar predicament. 

“Disappointed Ruby didn’t come?” He asked, finding her looking to the doors of the building, waiting for someone to come.

“Correct. Today was technically the biggest day of her life. It helped shape her into the legend she is today. It was also the day our lives were set on a collision course.” Weiss replied, giving Jaune a disappointed look.

“I don’t think we crashed too hard.” Jaune replied, scratching his head. His humor wasn’t always the best but he tried.

“Of course not, you dunce. It’s just that, I wish Ruby would’ve been here as well. Would’ve made the day all the better for us all.” Weiss replied, with a laugh. 

“Oh well, wherever she is let’s hope she’s doing-“Jaune began to say before his and Weiss’s scroll began buzzing. “A message, right now? I thought you and I had disabled notifications.”

“Me too. Wait. This is a message from Ruby. In our group Jaune.” Weiss replied, shocking Jaune who also saw the message on the private chat he had made with Ruby and Weiss during their travels across Remnant.

_‘Help.'_

* * *

The ride on the airship to Patch had been incredibly tense to say the least. Thankfully Weiss was more than prepared for a trip to Patch with her airship, Schneesturm. Giving Jaune a welcome ride aboard, she headed over to Patch to find out what exactly went wrong.

At least that’s what she could remember. Mostly it was a lot of panicking and constant worry about trying to get to Patch as quick as possible without making too much of a fuss about leaving the event.

Luckily, it didn’t seem like leaving the event was too much of a worry as both her and Jaune managed to excuse themselves rather easily, citing some work had come up with the SDC and they needed Jaune’s help. 

Upon heading to the hangar at Beacon where Weiss had landed, Schneesturm the two of them took off, with Weiss taking the helm of the ship. In her youth, she would never have needed to become a pilot, but her time as a huntress made her recognize the importance of having a pilot on their team.

It was also one of the skills she kept, even after retiring from being a huntress. It certainly helped make air travel faster and a lot safer. It was also a rather convenient skill to have in an emergency like this.

Passing through the clouds, she was practically shaking with worry, as her mind tried to think up what might have happened. Grimm attack? Injury? Sickness? Aura Failure? All these possibilities were all equally viable, and not one of them sounded well.

Of course, she couldn’t blame Ruby for this was merely the risks that were going to be associated with the job. But she certainly wished she would’ve been more careful with how she went about her job. Her partner couldn’t exactly keep on staying with her as she traveled around the globe! 

She was busy now, she no longer had time to be a Huntress, right?

Thinking back to when she last remembered being a Huntress, she remembered about the time she spent as Ruby’s partner. While indeed it was exhausting and oftentimes extremely hazardous to her health, it wasn’t like she was going to change any decision she had previously made. 

She fully knew the risks of being a Huntress back then and still did. After all, that was why she quit, to restore the SDC before leaving it under the hands that she could trust. She hadn’t really thought of what she was going to do after that.

Besides being the head of the SDC all she really had was being a huntress and given how long she had been away from the job, she wasn’t even sure if Ruby was willing to want her back at her side. She wasn’t the Dust Caster she was when she was fighting in the war against Salem, instead she was now running a company… that still held the tools to ensure humanity’s and Faunuskind’s survival. 

While she had been able to repair her fractured bond with Whitley and had managed to destroy the worst traces of their father in the boy, she simply wasn’t sure whether or not he was willing or even ready to take up the full task. 

Until then Weiss could only keep on training him, and hoping that one day, he would gain the confidence to run the SDC. But until that day, she would never be able to enjoy her life as a huntress. She would never be able to be a true partner to Ruby or even an ally to Jaune.

The thought certainly kept her up at night while she was running the SDC she never really considered the consequences of what would happen if Ruby went off on her huntress duties without her. At least until today. And needless to say the thought of hearing about something like this happening to Ruby while she was out in some board meeting… No, it wasn’t worth thinking about. 

Right now, she needed to focus, right now Ruby needed both of her friends to be there for her. Right now, that was what mattered. All that she could hope for was that she didn’t fail her now.

Taking her out of her thought, however, was the feeling of a warm hand on her shoulder. Looking to her right, she found Jaune softly putting his hand on her right shoulder.

“Something bothering you?” He asked softly. “If you feel like coming out with it, I’m here.”

This was another thing about Jaune that Weiss had grown to appreciate over the years. A genuine desire to help. It was something she had found in both of them really. But in Jaune, she found the reason was because at his very core Jaune was a good man.

He truly cared about the people around him, and he genuinely wanted to help, not out of some purpose but because it was right. Because it was decent. And that was one of the many things she loved about him. And also, why, she could trust him with her deepest and darkest memories, and he could as well with his own. 

Because in the end, even if one of them fell, she knew that the other two would be there to pick up the pieces.

* * *

Upon landing, Jaune was already preparing for the worst. He knew better than anyone about the various consequences the war held on everyone. Out of all of them Ruby easily had to deal with the most. Beacon’s fall, watching Pyrrha die, seeing Penny die twice, facing defeat at Atlas and nearly having her spark corrupted by Salem and the weight of the world on her shoulders when she was only 17.

By far, it was Ruby who was changed the most by the war, and Jaune saw it happen as the years progressed. She grew, she adapted, and she kept fighting. Her spirit never faded. No matter how much hardship she went through she kept on fighting and she kept on fighting the good fight. 

But needless to say, it was hard on the poor girl. Both him and Weiss frequently saw her break down when the fight became too hard to bear by just one person. Thankfully, both him and Weiss were there for Ruby no matter what. And this time it would be no different.

Rushing over to Ruby’s home in Patch, they had no idea what to expect. Her father had long since passed during the war and now she was all alone in her home with no one to help her if something went wrong. 

Nearly breaking down the door, when he slammed it open, both Jaune and Weiss came inside the house and found Ruby sprawled out on a couch, unconscious with her scroll on the ground and Crescent Rose sprawled out on the door.

“Oh god. Jaune!” Weiss said, her eyes widening in horror.

“On it.” Jaune replied, readying his aura to reform Ruby’s. 

“I’ll go get some water for her; you keep her stable okay Jaune?” Weiss added, rushing to the kitchen to grab some water for Ruby.

Using his semblance on Ruby, he allowed his aura to flow through Ruby. Years of experience had given him some rather neat tricks with it. One of them being able to flow his aura through another person to reinvigorate a failing one.

“Ruby? Ruby can you hear me?” he asked, shaking her, hoping for a response.

After getting no response, he allowed more of his aura to pass through him into Ruby. After doing this for a couple of seconds he again tried shaking her. At this point even Weiss had managed to come back and after placing down the glass of water on her table, cupped Ruby’s face in her hands.

“Ruby… please wake up. We’re here for you.” She pleaded, holding Ruby’s face.

“Weiss, try using your aura as well to boost hers, Ruby’s aura has been blocked by something.” Jaune said, offering his hand to Weiss. Another trick he had learned from his time as an active huntsman. 

Immediately, taking his hand, Jaune’s aura mingled with Weiss’s before passing through both of their hands towards Ruby’s body, finally brightening her aura from its maroon state to its original red. 

The effort sent him buckling and forced him to sit down on the ground as it did Weiss, who sat down on the table.

“Come on Ruby. Get up. Please.” Weiss said out softly, watching Ruby stir.

“We’re here Ruby.” He said, as Ruby began to flutter her eyes open.

“Weiss… Jaune?” she said, weakly, trying to lift her head. “Are… you guys… actually here?”

“Yeah, we’re here for you Ruby.” Weiss replied, wiping a tear from Ruby’s eye. 

“Don’t stress yourself Ruby. Please just rest. We’ll be here for you.” Jaune said, hugging the tired girl and then pulling her off the couch. “Let’s head over to the bedroom, you’ll be more comfortable there.”

Carrying Ruby over to the bedroom, he laid her down on her bed, with Weiss not leaving either his or Ruby’s side. Grabbing two chairs, he set them down and sat down next to Ruby.

After Weiss placed the blankets over Ruby’s body, Jaune finally checked her temperature. Unsurprisingly, he found her temperature had been skyrocketing and seeing how pale she looked, he guessed it wasn’t from something normal either.

But seeing how tired Ruby was, Jaune could tell that answers could wait for another day. Right now, all that mattered was keeping Ruby safe. 

And with Weiss by his side, he was more than certain that they would be able to do that with ease.

* * *

Waking up, Ruby felt strangely light on her head. She could only barely recall the last day when she ended up frantically trying to get to Patch after a bad mission. She still had no idea what on earth utterly decimated her aura, but she most certainly didn’t want to think about either. 

Opening her eyes, she found herself in a room, comfortable in her blankets and lying on soft pillows. The last thing she recalled was being carried into her room by Jaune and Weiss. The very thought of knowing that both Jaune and Weiss were around and still with her, already helped Ruby fight off the pain she was going through.

Speaking of the two, she found Jaune sleeping to the left of her bed on a chair, with Weiss resting her head on his shoulder as well. Seems like the two of them had also been tired from the day they were supposed to be having. As she tried to get up however, she found that her left hand was being pressed down by something.

Unfurling the bedsheets, she saw Grimm tendrils all around her arm holding it down and spreading all across her arm. Letting out a scream, she blinked to find the vision wasn’t real and that in reality it was simply Jaune, holding her hand, probably to reassure her that he was still here.

Shaking with fear, this time Ruby heard Weiss.

“Ruby? What happened?!” Weiss responded before elbowing Jaune who had begun to stir.

“Bad dream. Saw Grimm… all around…” she got out before, shuddering at relieving her last mission. Seeing Weiss come out, she at first thought another Grimm had come out and went for her holster to bring out Crescent Rose, only to find it missing. “STAY BACK!!!”

“Ruby it’s me! Weiss!” The figure spoke out. 

Blinking once, her eyesight cleared again, revealing Weiss coming to her side, tears in her eyes. 

Hiding her face, she spoke it in shame, tears flowing out of her eyes. “I… I’m sorry. It’s just… I don’t-” she spoke out before feeling Weiss’s arms come around her, hugging her close. Two more came from her left as Jaune also put his arms around her. 

“It’s okay, Ruby. We aren’t going anywhere.” Weiss said, lying down on the bed with her. 

“You’re not alone anymore. Tell us what happened.” Jaune said, sitting on the bed.

“It was a normal escort mission. Just get a convoy through the woods of Vale. Of course, the Grimm came, but why would it matter? I had silver eyes, right? They couldn’t… possibly get to me, right?” Ruby began, her voice breaking. “But no, my eyes failed me. And so…. I failed them. I got swarmed by the Grimm… and I watched as they slowly ripped the convoy I was protecting to shreds.”

Neither Weiss nor Jaune said a word to Ruby, instead grabbing her hands and squeezing it reassuringly. How many times would she have done the same for Weiss and Jaune? How many times would Ruby have made sure to be there for Weiss or Jaune?

“And to make it all the worse, my eyes worked… almost as soon as the Grimm started to hurt them…” She continued, trying to wipe her tears only to find Weiss’s comforting hand, doing so for her. Jaune meanwhile, rested his hand on her back, softly rubbing it. 

“I failed…. All those people, I was supposed to protect them, to make sure they made it home… and I failed.” Ruby concluded.

“Ruby, why do we fall in life?” Weiss asked, thoughtfully. She had long since stopped crying, much to Ruby’s comfort. Crying Weiss wasn’t a happy Weiss.

She tried to speak, but in that moment, all the guilt, all the pain from the last few days since the mission, came crashing down on her. Suffocated by the guilt, she couldn’t make a sound.

“So that we can get back up.” Jaune answered for her. “We can’t be perfect always. Weiss can attest to that.”

“But people nearly died because of my mistake! People are now going to have to live with the knowledge that the person who was supposed to protect them failed them.” Ruby snapped.

“So, we get better. We improve. We make sure that these mistakes that happened now, don’t define us.” Weiss replied calmly, again making Ruby regret her tone. “

“I know what it's like to think you’re worth nothing, to think you’re not good enough Ruby. You saw me, you saw exactly what happened to me back in Haven.”

“Jaune, you know that wasn’t your fault.”

“My point still stands; I should never have gone down that road. I’m lucky to have found you two while I still could.” Said the knight, reminding Ruby of how disturbed he truly was after the Fall of Beacon. How he treated himself, how he no longer had that shining light in his blue eyes.

“I’m not going to let you fall down that road either. Trust me Ruby, you are easily the most skilled huntress in all of Remnant. But even that doesn’t mean you’re perfect. What happened earlier was a tragedy, but you can’t let that beat yourself up.” Jaune replied, his tone no longer soft, but hard and stern.

“Take as long as you need and remember, you’ll always have me and Weiss by your side.” Jaune replied, giving her a hug, soon followed by Weiss.

“Now come on Ruby, let’s get you out of this bed and grab some breakfast. There’s no joy to starting the day off with an empty stomach.” Jaune concluded, earning a smile from Ruby who wiped off her tears.

“I’m cooking.” Weiss replied, before jumping off the bed.

“Please Weiss, while Ruby may love your cooking, I would like to at least make sure that it is edible for all of us and that it doesn’t give Ruby indigestion later.” Jaune said, making both him and Ruby laugh.

“You take that back right now Jaune Arc!” Weiss snapped, as she pointed her rapier at Jaune who nervously raised his hands.

“Okay! Okay! I surrender! Although your cooking could still use some work!” Jaune replied sheepishly as he bolted into the kitchen, running for his life.

“JAUNE!” Weiss screamed as she rushed behind him, making Ruby laugh.

She missed this, this sense of contentment and love she got from the two of them. No matter how much time passed the fact that they were still Ruby’s best friends forever, never changed.

**And she loved both of them for it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own anything from RWBY, that honor belongs to the fine people at Rooster Teeth**

**Chapter 2: Baby Steps**

* * *

Jaune knew exactly what he was getting into when he ended up teasing Weiss about her cooking. However, he certainly forgot just how terrifying Weiss was when her glyphs were active. Weiss had only done this twice to him. The first time, he probably deserved it while the second was more so one of Ruby's ideas that ended up not actually saving their lives when it mattered. But that still didn't make being stuck to the wall with the threat of having a boarbatusk being set on him any less scary!

"Did you learn your lesson?" Weiss asked, leaning forward with a warning glare on her face.

"Y-Yes. I di-did!" He stammered out, before Weiss graciously released him from the hold glyphs. "Phew, thanks Weiss. But I did want to ask you, do you have a plan for breakfast?"

"Of course, I do! It's… it's…" Weiss replied indignantly.

"You don't have a plan, do you?"

"It's… complicated."

"Weiss, just admit it."

"Okay fine! I don't have a plan! Do you have one?" Weiss asked, her cheeks puffing up in annoyance.  
"Uhh, it's a little complicated?"

"It's still better than no plan. So, let's hear it." Weiss replied, dragging him over to the kitchen.

"Okay, so you know how Ruby likes Strawberries and Sweets?" Jaune asked, his hand going to his scroll.

"Of course, I do! What kind of a partner would I be if I didn't?" Weiss replied, still somewhat offended but curious.

"Well, I was thinking we apply that but to everything we cook today." Jaune said, as he brought up his scroll, showing Weiss a hologram.

"I still have no idea why you and Ruby like Chocochip pancakes with strawberry syrup so much." Weiss responded.

"Oh, come on! That's it today I'm making you some of it. I even brought my family's recipe for the strawberry syrup." Jaune said, taking back his scroll and pulling up his old recipe.

"You have that?! Here?!" Weiss asked.

"Of course! Never leave home without it!" Jaune replied, with a grin on his face before pulling up the recipe on his scroll. Luckily, the strawberry fields near Ruby's home were still blooming and he was pretty certain that Ruby still had all the tools he needed to make it. After all it was the strawberry syrup that tied it all together! "Also, Weiss?"

"Yes?"

"You should really try those pancakes. I'll make an extra batch for you today."

"Jaune, there's really no need. I- "Weiss began, before being cut off by Jaune.

"Please?" Jaune pleaded, putting on _his_ best impression of Ruby's puppy dog eyes.

"You have a terrible puppy dog impression Jaune. You should really leave that to Ruby." Weiss replied, with a small chuckle. "Although maybe I'll try it."

With that settled out of the way, Jaune was more than ready to start the day off with some proper food. Hopefully with Weiss by his side, it would be a little easier. After all picking out those strawberries could be extremely tedious and who better than Ruby's partner to help pick out the absolute best of the best in for her?

* * *

Weiss quickly found out that she really had no idea what Ruby's favorite type of strawberries was. All she knew was that Ruby liked all strawberries, no matter what kind they were. So she ended up buying as many as she could find and plucked out a few of them from the gardens Ruby had around her house.

Then after some coordination with Jaune, both of them were able to make something resembling a good breakfast. Hopefully, she didn't end up messing it up with too many chocochips or by burning the pancakes as she cooked them.

Once they were made, she passed them over to Jaune who managed to finish with his recipe in record time. However, that also meant… he couldn't exactly pay the most attention to his clothes, which were all stained with strawberries pulp. And yet he still had the goofiest grin on his face as he listened to an old-fashioned comedy.

There were some things that Weiss could never truly understand about Jaune and one of them was his obsession with those shows. Then again, it wasn't like she was much better in terms of her own viewing preferences. But how on earth, Jaune was able to handle his uncleanliness was beyond her.

"Jaune, have you looked at your shirt?" Weiss said, grabbing a towel cloth and rubbing some of it off.

"Righttt. Remind me next time to not watch comedies while I make this syrup." Jaune said, before pouring the syrup over the pancakes. "I tasted the syrup earlier."

"How was it?"

"I mean I'm not Ruby but given how sweet this I'm sure she'll love it. You really do know her tastes well." Jaune said, making her smile with the comment.

"Well, I wouldn't be able to do this without your recipe. So, don't sell yourself short." Weiss replied.

"Thanks Weiss. Now try one of them! I'll even put in a little less syrup if you want me to." Jaune, replied with that dumb grin on his face. Strangely, much like Ruby's occasional childishness, it was one quality she had grown to appreciate more and more as time went on.

"Are you sure? This syrup was made for Ruby after all. I don't think it would be the best fit for a person like me." Weiss replied. "Also, I don't see any reason why I should waste this food."

"Okay Weiss, I'm sorry but you need a proper breakfast. We're going to be spending the entire day with Ruby after all, so it's pretty safe to say you're gonna need as much energy as you can muster." Jaune replied, already taking out a plate and pouring a miniscule amount of syrup on top of it.

"Fair point." Weiss said, before taking out some cutlery and taking a bite herself. It was actually much better than she had expected. The pancakes were incredibly well accented with the chocochips. Of course, the syrup was still a little much but then again, it was made for her partner, whose sweet tooth was at this point legendary.

"I'm surprised. It's actually really nice." She said, finishing it rather quickly. Once again, she had been shocked by Jaune's knowledge of the culinary arts and by her own skills in cooking.

"I told you. Now come on let's get this to Ruby." Jaune said, grabbing the plate filled with the pancakes and heading into the bedroom where Ruby was still resting. It seemed like she hadn't moved much from the bed since they left. Only doing so to wash up and slip into some more comfortable clothes.

"Hey guys!" Ruby replied, a little more cheer in her voice than before which greatly relieved Weiss.

"Hello Ruby. How are you feeling now?" Weiss asked as she brought the plates into the room.

"A little better." Ruby replied, crossing her arms slowly. It was clear to both of them that whatever happened to Ruby still had her shaken to her core. Of course, it wasn't like either of them were going to leave her when she needed help. They were her 'besties' after all. "Are those Chocochip Pancakes?"

"With the Arc family strawberry syrup! But all credit to the taste deserves to go to Weiss. She picked out the strawberries after all!" Jaune replied, with a cheer while bringing out a table for Ruby to eat from.

"Huh Weiss picked them out? No offense Jaune but I think that might have been a bad call." Ruby said, making Weiss's cheeks puff up in annoyance.

"Hey! I like to think I've gotten better at more normal activities after 10 years of living with you all!" Weiss replied, her tone slightly overplayed.

"I'm kidding Weiss! I'm kidding! I know whatever you and Jaune have cooked up is going to be pretty good." Ruby replied with a smile that warmed her heart.

"Why don't you taste it then?" Jaune asked before sitting down to Ruby's left with Weiss taking her right.

"Okie!" Ruby replied, before taking out a fork and taking a bite in what she could only describe as an attempt to match Nora with her own pancake eating tendencies.

Thankfully, compared to Nora, Ruby's attempts were far from matching Nora's and as such her bites were far more measured and as such were less likely to end up with Ruby accidentally hurting herself.

"These are amazing! The syrup really is the best! I'm taking back what I said earlier! Next time only Weiss gets to pick the strawberries!" Ruby said, with a huge grin that set her cheeks ablaze.

One of the things she always appreciated with Ruby was the fact that she was always genuine, so she knew every compliment Ruby gave, was true. And that was something she cherished.

"I'll keep that in mind. I suppose her being your partner for ten years ended up paying off in more ways than one?" Jaune asked.

"Oh definitely! In fact, having all of you around has been by far the greatest gift I could've ever asked for! If you had told my fifteen year old self that I would end up meeting two of my BFFs by bumping into one of the most powerful women on Remnant, I would've probably thought you were crazy!"

"Ruby, do you remember how we all used to be in those days?" Jaune asked, chuckling to himself as he ate a piece of his omelet he made.

"How can I forget, just how head over heels you were for Weiss during those days? Or how…" Ruby said making Jaune cheeks red in embarrassment.

"Don't say it." Weiss warned, putting her fork into her next pancake with a little more force.

"… Bossy you used to be." Ruby finished.

"Well, at least I grew up a little since then! Unlike some people I know…" Weiss replied. Staring directly into each other's eyes, neither one backed down, glaring each other down until Jaune's voice broke them up.

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just watching this… unfold right here." Jaune's voice broke in making both of them laugh.

"It's been far too long since we could just… relax like this. No pressure of fighting, just us relaxing." Weiss said, her tone the calmest it could be. It really had been nice to just take a couple of days off and relax. Even if it was extremely worrying at first.

"Reminds me of Beacon. At least when we weren't trying to blow up the city." Jaune commented, making Weiss nearly spit out her pancake as she began laughing along with Ruby.

"Psht. Oh, come on Jaune! We discovered that whole White Fang conspiracy and we stopped it!"

"While nearly blowing up the freeway." Weiss added.

"Weiss come on! You gotta admit, Jaune's only doing this because he wanted the cool mission!" Ruby snapped back with a pout.

"I so did not!" Jaune replied, crossing his arms.

"Alright, calm down you two. I think we can all agree, we were all a little… overeager in proving ourselves back then." Weiss spoke, mediating the conversation as always.

"It's a shame it's going to come to an end. I'm sorry I had to call you guys over. I didn't mean to-"

"Ruby please, don't say that. We've been friends for a good ten years now. Calling us here wasn't you being a bother. It never will be. Right Weiss?"

"Agreed. You can always trust us to be by your side Ruby. No matter what. In fact, me and Jaune have agreed that until we figure out what's happened, we're staying. Doesn't matter how long it takes, you won't have to go through this alone." Weiss said, backing up Jaune's words with a confident smile.

"But don't you have- "Ruby began before Weiss answered the question she was about to say.

"I think the SDC can handle itself without my guidance. After all, my new assistants have been extremely capable lately. I suppose this should serve as a good challenge for them when I eventually decide to retire." Weiss replied.

"As for me, I'm pretty sure Beacon can handle a couple of days without me. After all I don't really add much there and- "Jaune began.

"Nope, I'm not hearing it. You're a great teacher Jaune, don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Ruby interrupted, comforting Jaune in a way only she knew best.

"Thanks Ruby." Jaune said, before finishing up his meal.

"Sooo, does anyone have any plans for today?" Ruby asked, finishing the last of her pancakes while Weiss was still on her… third pancake. Goodness, she was a slow eater.

"Not really. We can do anything you like, although under one condition." Weiss replied.

"Which is?"

"Either me or Jaune has to be with you. We promised we weren't going to leave you alone and we're going to make do on that promise no matter what." Weiss explained, finishing the pancake. Only two more to go before she could move on further.

"Why not both of you? I have two hands after all!" Ruby said, making both her and Jaune's cheeks blush rampantly. Somehow as she got older, she got even better at that.

"I… I guess we can watch some movies or play some games. Really, as long as Weiss isn't picking, I'm fine." Jaune said, mildly recovering from his blush.

"Hey! You want me to trap you in hold glyphs again?!" Weiss protested, bringing out Myrtenaster with an overexaggerated gesture.

"Nooooo!" Jaune protested.

"Guysss! Can you both stop fighting?!" Ruby complained with a pout making both of them shut up.

"Okay. Now… ah crud I was really hoping something would come into my mind."

"It's okay Ruby. There's no rush. We can take this at whatever pace you want." Weiss said, placing her hand on Ruby's with Jaune doing the same. The simple act helped confirm to Weiss that no matter what happened, they were going to stay together as long as Ruby needed.

**After all, what were friends for?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: To all the people wondering, no this is not the end of this fic. I still find potential in this story to improve and I will only finish it when I find there is nothing else to discuss or do in it. For now enjoy this slightly Weiss centric chapter in the story and as always send me constructive feedback if you have any.
> 
> Keep Moving Forward!


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